A decade ago, the United States looked like it owned the future of electric vehicles. Tesla had redefined what an electric car could be. The technology, the brand, the cultural momentum—all American. With early policy support under Barack Obama, the US had both the innovation and the initial market lead. And yet, today, the centre … Read more
I was working in Leeds when I first started seeing adverts for WKD. Billboards, TV spots—loud, garish, and oddly confrontational. They didn’t look like advertising as we understood it. Traditionally, advertising sold aspiration. Buy this and you’ll be better, cooler, more successful—more attractive, even. WKD did the opposite. Its campaign—“Have you got a WKD side?”—didn’t … Read more
By-elections are supposed to be strange. Low turnout, odd swings, protest votes. But every so often they tell you something real about the direction of travel. This one did. Start with the Greens. On the face of it, good news. They can clearly mobilise a vote and, in the right conditions, win. But their real … Read more
Once upon a time, defining the far right was easy. Britain had fringe parties like the BNP and the National Front. Mainstream politicians kept their distance. Their ideas were toxic, and everyone knew it. That boundary has now broken down. The far right has been partially absorbed into mainstream politics. Just as Jeremy Corbyn opened … Read more
Donald Trump’s second term is going no better than his first. He has failed to end the war in Ukraine, failed to produce a credible healthcare plan, and failed to rein in government spending. Inflation remains elevated, unemployment is rising, and growth is slowing. Strip out AI investment and deficit spending, and the underlying economy … Read more
Reform UK’s donor list this year reads like a map of global capital. A £9 million donation from a businessman based in Thailand. Hundreds of thousands from a telecoms entrepreneur born in Beirut with global interests. Large sums emerging from corporate vehicles and overseas-linked donors. Fund raising dinners in Dubai hosted by Mumbai billionaires. According … Read more
The schism on Britain’s hard right is no longer gossip; it is formal. Rupert Lowe, reportedly buoyed by encouragement from Elon Musk’s online ecosystem, has launched a rival to Reform. His one-MP outfit is called Restore. The launch, staged in Great Yarmouth, leaned heavily into hard-line rhetoric on immigration and “national restoration”: mass deportations, drastic … Read more
I was in Barcelona last weekend. One of the world’s best cities. It also happened to be the opening weekend of Melania, the new documentary about Melania Trump, and the promotion was impossible to miss. A massive billboard dominated Plaça de Catalunya. Every bus stop seemed to have her face on it. Amazon money, very … Read more
Trump is bonkers Donald Trump’s speech to the World Economic Forum at Davos was a rambling, incoherent mess. His letter to the Prime Minister of Norway was equally unhinged, blaming Norway’s failure to award him the Nobel Peace Prize for the crisis over Greenland. He appears not to understand the difference between Norway and Denmark … Read more
